23 Arrested Following Rally Protesting Urban Shield Training

PLEASANTON, CA – Twenty three protesters were arrested for civil disobedience outside the nation's largest first responder exercise known as Urban Shield, held at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton Friday morning, Alameda County sheriff's officials said. The 23 were cited and released from the Santa Rita Jail at about 1:10 p.m., spokesman Mohamed Shehk with Critical Resistance said.

Police officials closed Pleasanton and Bernal avenues Friday morning during a large protest against Urban Shield. Several hundred demonstrators congregated around the fair gates in protest of the annual training. Some of them formed a human chain, locking hands inside large pipes, across the gates.

Drivers in Pleasanton were asked to avoid the area around the fairgrounds for several hours. ACE train passengers were asked to use the entrance from Angela Street and allow extra time for their commute this morning due to the scheduled protest.

More than 1,000 emergency first responders are participating in the annual law enforcement preparedness training held this year at the fairgrounds in Pleasanton. The event, tailored to train emergency crews in case of natural and man-made disasters, runs from Thursday to Monday and is closed to the public.

In response to the training, hundreds of Stop Urban Shield protesters from around the Bay Area and as far away as Los Angeles and Sacramento gathered to protest the "militarization of police." A large number of the protesters marched down Pleasanton Avenue around 8:30 a.m.

Police officials refer to the event as training, while protesters refer to it as "police war games." One of the claims of protesters is that police are becoming more militarized, adopting military weaponry such as riot gear and armored vehicles. But sheriff's spokesman Sgt. J.D. Nelson said first responders have been adopting military equipment, such as bulletproof vests, for the last 100 years.

"It's all military technology," Nelson said.

Shehk said the equipment is used to repress people, especially people of color and poor people. They are tools of surveillance and control, he said.

Alameda Sheriff's Office spokesperson Sgt. Ray Kelly said the annual training includes about 50 scenarios, including rescues and the simulation of the response required following a massive 7.0-magnitude earthquake.

"We are here to test all capabilities for first responders," Kelly said. "We are working to identify weaknesses, look at new technology and learn how to better manage technologies."

Kelly said first responders from all over the Bay Area are attending the training. Law enforcement from San Bernardino, Las Vegas, Florida, Mexico and Taiwan have come to Pleasanton to participate.

Protester Alicia Bell of Oakland says she wants to stop these types of trainings in order to stop the "militarization of police."

Organizers say they plan to protest each year until Urban Shield no longer exists.

"Our communities will not rest until the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, who have the authority to defund urban shield, put an end to this disastrous and damaging program," Sagnicthe Salazar of the Xicana Moratorium Coalition said in a statement. "For too long, the Sheriff has gone unchecked in his drive to militarize and expand policing in the bay area. It's time to defund policing, and build up our communities."

When asked about the protesters, Kelly says America is changing.

"Law enforcement are becoming a target," Kelly said. "Officers have a lot to worry about knowing that someone may want to kill them. It takes heart, commitment to do this. Law enforcement are one of the few professions targeted just for doing their job."

Urban Shield is in its 10th year, sheriff's spokesman Nelson said. Today, vendors will show off equipment. Also, first responders will receive a safety briefing and medical assessment in preparation for a 48-hour exercise this weekend.

Nelson said every 60 days there is a mass killin in the U.S., and Urban Shield is meant to train first responders for those killings. He said first responders from Boston were grateful for the training they received, which prepared them to respond to the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing.

Bay City News contributed to this report.

Photos, video courtesy Autumn Johnson/ Patch